Stray Demons
by Fellykins
Summary: Erika Davidson is a freshman at Kalos Central University. Life is great for the young freshman, but when a strange creature enters her body one night, her life takes a turn for the worst. TRIGGER WARNING: Depression


**Author's Note: **I was originally writing this for a Pokemon RPG, as I say in the story, but I ended up leaving the game before this story was finished and was able to be published there. I didn't want to leave it unfinished, and I wasn't sure how to edit out that part, so I just left it in. Also, I specified this in the summary, but just a reminder that there's a trigger warning for depression.

They say there are seven deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. We all face them at some point in our lives, whether we realize it or not. We try to resist, but we cannot.

Even I have fallen victim to these seven deadly sins. Yes, even me, the person behind the computer screen with fingers flying across her keyboard typing the words on the screen that will ultimately be published for an online Pokemon RPG, has fallen victim to these sins. But this isn't my story. Or perhaps it is, and I'm just not letting you in on that little secret just yet.

This is the story of Erika Davidson. Erika is an eighteen year old young woman fresh out of high school. During her grade school days, she was the model student. She was the girl everyone wanted to be and couldn't be. She was an A student, she had an amazing boyfriend (who also happened to be captain of the football team), she was captain of the cheerleading squad, and she dreamed of being an elementary school teacher.

When she wasn't busy with her boyfriend of four years or working at the gym she practiced cheerleading at outside of school, she was working at her nearby church with the kids there. She got to teach them all about Arceus' word and share her love of Arceus' word with young children. Working in a church school wasn't her dream job, but she wanted her job experience young and the practice with working with kids never hurt.

You're probably wondering how someone as perfect as Erika fell victim to the seven deadly sins. When you look at her, it looks like she has everything. A loving boyfriend, two supportive parents, a roof over her and her middle school aged brother's head, food in her stomach, a brand new car, a bed to sleep in, a full ride to the school of her dreams, and a part time job to help her have some extra money in her pocket for when she went off to school in the fall. It was everything an eighteen year old girl fresh out of high school needed.

And yet, she still fell victim to the seven deadly sins.

It didn't strike right away. No, they came when she least expected it.

Erika and her family moved her into her dorm room, located on the campus of Kalos Central University on the fifth floor of Igglybuff House, a week before classes started. She let fate bring her roommates, and she got a young woman majoring in Engineering, one majoring in Health Sciences, and another majoring in Sports Management. Though they were an unlikely quartet with their very different interests, Erika and her three new roommates hit it off well.

And then, three weeks into the semester, everything took a turn for the worst. They say all it takes is one night for things to go sour.

In the night, as Erika slept soundly in her bed, a dark shadow entered the room. All that could be seen of it was bright pink feathers protruding from its head, but no one noticed the creature as it approached Erika's bed for everyone was sound asleep and the creature made no noise as it entered the room. No one would even know it was there, for in an instant, it was gone as it entered Erika's body.

It wasn't noticeable at first, but as the weeks went on, Erika put on weight. Her slim frame, toned perfectly for cheerleading, was starting to become less and less slim. She didn't pay any attention to it though, for everyone always talked about the Freshman 15, and Erika was learning that it was indeed a very real thing. She would just have to watch what she ate when she visited the dining hall with her friends and roommates.

But the weight didn't stop getting added onto her body even as Erika started to watch her food intake when she went out to eat. She found herself looking at her fellow cheerleaders and wishing she looked like them again. She became too heavy to lift and had to be delegated to standing and holding one of the other girls up. She became envious of that too, for before she was light enough to fly in the air like the girl she held up in the air.

She started to lose interest in cheerleading once she was delegated to a role she didn't quite like as much. She still went to the practices and all of the required events, but if she wasn't required to go, she stayed in. Depression set in as she found herself curled up in her bed in her room, watching Netflix shows on her computer in her free time instead of hanging out with friends. The desire to get her work done ahead of time so she would have time to party and hang out with friends was gone, and she just did it at her leisure. There were days where she would sleep until noon if she didn't have to go out anywhere that day.

Erika watched the girls around her go on dates with their boyfriends and have romantic nights out that would end in them sleeping together. She wished for those nights with her boyfriend, who was back home, but he ignored her advances. She took advice from other girls, but even their advice didn't help her get the romantic night she dreamed of with her boyfriend, and she sank further and further into her depression. She didn't break up with him, but she wished for more.

She saw her roommates going shopping and getting all of the things they wanted, and she wanted to join them too. When Erika did go shopping, she wanted anything and everything she could find. Her credit cards were maxed out, and she was insisting that her friends buy her things too. They did because they noticed her depression and they thought that buying her things would cheer her up. It did, temporarily, for money doesn't buy happiness.

With the items she bought for herself and the items her friends bought for her, she felt a sense of pride. There was a temporary happiness that came with these things, and it turned into a sense of pride too for Erika. She bragged about the items she bought for herself, and she bragged even more about the items everyone else bought for her.

But it reached a point where even her friends were getting fed up with Erika's behavior. They got mad at her, and Erika lashed out. "I'm not acting like a selfish brat," she would say. "I'm grateful you got these things for me!"

Deep down, she wasn't though, and her friends saw that. They started distancing themselves from her, and soon enough, Erika was alone. Not even her roommates wanted to be around her, and her boyfriend became fed up with her behavior and broke up with her. When it came time for room selections for next year, Erika found herself in a room by herself. Over the summer, she prayed to Arceus for guidance in what she should do in the future to solve the issues she had in life now. She received no answer.

When she returned to Kalos Central for the start of her sophomore year, those around her sensed her anger from being alone. Others avoided her for they feared being caught in her wrath. One of her professors recommended she meet with a support group, so Erika went, albeit reluctantly.

"I'm alone," she said with a shrug on her first meeting with the group. "No one wants to be around me."

"We want to be around you," the group's leader said with a smile. Erika shrugged again.

She didn't believe the leader, but as the days went by after her first meeting, she noticed the members of the group stopping and sitting with her while she had lunch in the student center between classes. They would catch her as she went to classes or when she was on her way back to her dorm. At the second meeting, they were glad to see her come back.

"How are you feeling this week?" the leader asked her once the meeting started.

"A little better," she said, glancing around the room at those that surrounded her. They were the ones who reached out to her after their first meeting to make sure she was okay, that she had a friend to sit with at lunch, that she had someone to walk with to classes or back to her dorm after a long day of classes. "It's nice to be accepted."

With each passing week, Erika's mood improved. She saw people wanting to be around her. She saw people that didn't push her away if she had a bad day and instead worked to make sure that she was alright. She felt like she had friends.

On the third week of the meetings, the Sneasel that entered her body one night during her freshman year left. He exited her body and went back out through the window. There was a glimmer in his eyes as he searched the campus for his next unsuspecting target.


End file.
